It is plausible that:
Some of the fundamental dynamic laws of nature are given by differential equations.
All fundamental dynamic laws of nature provide fundamental causal explanations.
Facts that involve disjunction do not enter into fundamental causal explanations.
But one cannot believe (1)–(3). For:
- Facts about derivatives are facts about limits.
And:
- Facts about limits are infinite conjunctions of infinite disjunctions of infinite conjunctions.
For the limit of f(x) as x → y equals z if and only if every neighborhood N of z there is a neighborhood M of x such that for all u ∈ M we have f(u)∈N. Universal quantification is a kind of conjunction and existential quantification is a kind of disjunction.
I am inclined to reject (1).
